It was plain from the empty crates and boxes being unloaded from the Kriska truck Tuesday afternoon: This year’s Fall Food Drive has fallen short of its goal.

But while food donations are well below expectations in the annual Rotary effort, officials at the Brockville and Area Food Bank are taking some consolation from robust cash results.

Over the past week, Brockville Rotarians collected and sorted 16,625 lbs. of food.

The result is down over last year’s drive that collected 20,320 lbs., and well below this year’s food drive goal of 26,000 lbs. of food.

Cash donations, as of Wednesday, totalled $32,805, up over last year’s $17,000 but still shy of food drive organizers’ aim to exceed $36,000.

Jo Anne Sytsma, co-chairwoman of the food bank with Amanda Warner, sees some hope in the cash results because, while last year’s fall drive brought in $17,000, the number swelled to some $32,000 by the end of October 2017.

“I hadn’t really expected that so early in the month, so that’s a real bonus for us,” she added.

“That’s going to counterbalance the lack of food quite nicely.”

However, food supplies are still needed and can be dropped off anytime at the Real Canadian Superstore, Metro, Food Basics, Giant Tiger and Walmart, as well as the food bank at 58 Buell Street.

The Rotarians’ goal of 26,000 lbs. of food and $36,000 in cash represents a three-month food supply for the facility.

Volunteers from Brockville's Rotary Clubs help unload donations to the Brockville and Area Food Bank at its Buell Street location on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 9, 2018 in Brockville, Ont. Early indications suggested food donations were below previous years' Thanksgiving campaigns, meaning the food bank may have to turn to the public for more help ahead of Christmas./BT

Sytsma was on hand at the Buell Street food bank Tuesday as the truck backed into the loading area with donations collected for the fall drive, culminating in the Thanksgiving weekend.

But as the trailer door opened, it revealed a half-empty truck, and roughly half the crates and boxes stacked inside were empty.

The volunteer-run food bank serves more than 1,360 individuals a month, of whom 40 per cent are children, with five-day emergency supplies of food per month.

Those figures tend to vary from month to month, noted Sytsma.

The food bank serves Brockville, Elizabethtown-Kitley, Mallorytown and the western end of Augusta Township.

It spends, on average, $14,500 per month, or $174,000 annually, to buy food.

Sytsma noted that, while the raw number of users may not be on the increase, the frequency of their visits is going up, meaning the food bank has to redirect them to other agencies for help.

“For some, the cost of living is outstripping their ability to cope,” she said.

Meanwhile, senior citizens, who tend to be on fixed incomes, are the food bank’s fastest-growing demographic, she said.

“That’s a very worrisome trend.”

Sytsma was not sure why food donations are down over last year; she suggested more people may have opted for cash donations instead of buying food.

“A lot of folks (donated) more than just the cost of a bag,” she added.

This year’s numbers are more in line with the results of the 2016 fall food drive, which collected 16,316 lbs. of food and $35,000 in cash donations.

Sytsma said the food bank is in particular need of canned fruit and vegetables, pasta sauce and snacks for children, such as juice boxes and fruit cups.

People can also make cash donations by mailing a cheque to Box 522, Station Main, Brockville, K6V 5V7 or donating online.